High School Sports » Tennesseehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports
The TennesseanWed, 19 Mar 2014 00:26:17 +0000en-UShourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6Sumner standouts set for All-American Bowlhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/10/18/sumner-standouts-set-for-all-american-bowl/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/10/18/sumner-standouts-set-for-all-american-bowl/#commentsFri, 18 Oct 2013 16:29:12 +0000Maurice Pattonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/?p=5443Middle Tennessee football standouts Josh Malone and Jalen Hurd will both be recognized for their selections as U.S. Army All-American Bowl participants during ceremonies next week at their respective high schools.

Malone will be presented his game jersey during an assembly Tuesday at Station Camp, with Hurd receiving his Wednesday at Beech.

Collin Mooney, a Tennessee Titans fullback and a West Point graduate who currently is a first lieutenant with the U.S. Army Reserves, will participate in Malone’s presentation. Station Camp band members Jason Kyle Biggs and Florin Matei will also be recognized for their selection to the Army All-American Bowl band.

Hurd, No. 1 on The Tennessean’s GameTime Dandy Dozen list of top Midstate college prospects for 2013, has not played since injuring his shoulder in Beech’s season-opening win at Station Camp and undergoing surgery last month. A Tennessee commitment, Hurd is not expected to participate in the contest.

Malone, No. 2 on the Dandy Dozen, has 38 receptions for 859 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has yet to commit.

The U.S. Army All-American Bowl will take place on Jan. 4 at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Tennessee senior Ellen Mullins, a former Father Ryan volleyball standout, was named MVP after the Lady Vols won the Country Inns & Suites Invitational with a 3-0 victory over Charlotte in Chattanooga on Saturday.

“It all starts with our defense. Ellen Mullins was the MVP, which she deserves averaging seven digs a set,” Patrick said. “But Bridgette Villano, Nikki Brice and Megan Hatcher did an unbelievable job of starting our offense with their passing, and continuing our defense with their dominance. That’s what Tennessee volleyball is all about is relentless defense. Those four young ladies did a fantastic job when they were in the matches.”

Mullins led the Lady Vols (6-1) with 19 digs.

“All of us go in there and play our hardest,” Mullins said. “We do passing and digging every day. It’s fun to play next to them. They’re doing a great job.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/09/09/former-father-ryan-star-named-mvp/feed/0Maplewood adds game against Maryland foehttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/09/03/maplewood-adds-game-against-maryland-foe/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/09/03/maplewood-adds-game-against-maryland-foe/#commentsTue, 03 Sep 2013 19:04:57 +0000Maurice Pattonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/?p=5244Arcentae Broome was resigned to his Maplewood football team playing a nine-game schedule this fall — and being the only Division I program in the Midstate to do so — before the phone rang a few weeks ago.

A 10th game is now all but finalized, as the Panthers are set to play visiting Eastern Christian Academy of Elkton, Md., on Sept. 27.

“We’re sending them a contract on Thursday or Friday,” Broome said. “We just wanted to make sure playing them wouldn’t endanger anything we had going on here.”

Broome said school officials discussed the potential matchup with the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association and received approval.

Eastern Christian Academy, whose football coach is former Tennessee State assistant Dwayne Thomas, is in its second year of existence. A large majority of its students take classes online, and the team plays a national schedule because it is only approved as a non-member school by the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association.

Thus far, the Honey Badgers are 2-0 with wins over Champagnat Catholic of Hialeah, Fla. (40-6), and Banneker, Ga. (56-13). They feature junior quarterback David Sills V, who made national news when he committed to Southern Cal as a seventh-grader, and six other players who have committed to sign Division I scholarships in February.

“We like to have our kids prepared for college in all aspects — academically, athletically, socially,” said Thomas, whose team played Banneker in Atlanta on a Thursday night. “If we can get them out on some road trips, they get a taste of preparing from that travel aspect.

“We saw that (Maplewood) had an open date. We usually contact anybody within reasonable distance that has an open date. Our athletics director reached out to them, they responded favorably and we went on with the game.”

Among the six seniors already set to sign are receiver Neiko Creamer, a Tennessee commitment and the son of former UT defensive back and TSU assistant Andre Creamer.

“We’re hoping the game will bring some SEC (recruiting) looks, some looks from some of these southern schools, for some of those kids and some of our kids,” Broome said. “It’ll bring a little of a gate — maybe the unknown of Eastern Christian. But it’s just two teams suiting up to play. They needed a game, we needed a game.

“It’s a big leap for us, but … competition is what it’s all about. You want your kids to see good competition sometimes, and sometimes you have to go outside the realm of what everybody else is doing.”

The 6-3, 230-pound running back/safety was released earlier this week after suffering a groin injury over the summer, but both he and the Buccaneer coaching staff have taken a cautious approach in preparing for the upcoming season.

“I didn’t know whether he was going to play or not,” Crabtree said following the scrimmage, which went Oakland’s way in decisive fashion. “We’re trying to minimize his ‘reps’ right now. I think we did pretty well with that. I don’t think we overworked him. It was about what I wanted.”

Hurd, who committed in March to Tennessee, worked with Beech’s first team on both offense and defense, concentrating his efforts particularly with the latter unit in light of his relative inexperience.

“We’d like to get him a few more ‘reps’ on defense than on offense,” Crabtree said, indicating that will likely be the case going into the season as well.

Offensively, Hurd was kept bottled up for the most part by the Patriot defense, springing loose for one long run and catching a screen pass for significant yardage while scoring a short-yardage touchdown.

“We’ve got a lot to make better and practice on, myself included,” Hurd said. “Defensively, I think I did pretty well for my first time back there.”

Over the last month, Hurd has focused on strengthening his groin and hips in the aftermath of his injury, which caused him to miss Nike’s elite “The Opening” exposure camp.

“I didn’t feel one thing out there,” he said regarding his health. “It may come and go, but on game day, it’s not an issue.”

But the Beech standout and Tennessee commitment opted not to take part in The Opening, the elite college football prospects camp hosted a couple of weeks ago by Nike at its Beaverton, Ore., headquarters.

“It turns out I probably could have gone,” said the 6-3, 230-pound running back, who injured his groin while earning an invitation to The Opening with his performance at the Nike Football Training Camp in Columbus, Ohio last month.

What was originally thought to be a strained groin was later found to be an irritation — “like tendinitis,” said Tara Smotherman, Jalen’s mother — that is being addressed with anti-inflammatory medicine and physical therapy.

“It’s something I can play on and not make it any worse,” said Hurd, currently ranked the 19th-best senior prospect in the country by rivals.com and 22nd by 247sports.com. “It’s just an annoying pain. A strain, you absolutely have to rest it so that you don’t pull it. As it is, I can’t hurt it any further. Hopefully it’ll go away, but if not, you can play through it.

“Knowing I can’t injure it any further is a good state of mind to be in.”

With the Buccaneers two weeks away from full-contact drills, Hurd is continuing to rehab the ailment and keeping up with his workouts as best he can.

Beech opens the season with a Week 0 matchup at District 9-AAA rival Station Camp. The Bison feature receiver Josh Malone, who did attend The Opening along with Brentwood Academy defensive end/tight end Derek Barnett.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/07/15/groin-ailment-closes-the-opening-for-hurd/feed/0Hurd knows how to hit ‘The Opening’http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/06/05/hurd-knows-how-to-hit-the-opening/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/06/05/hurd-knows-how-to-hit-the-opening/#commentsWed, 05 Jun 2013 19:57:59 +0000Maurice Pattonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/?p=4822With a scholarship offer from and a verbal commitment to Tennessee, Jalen Hurd doesn’t appear to have a lot to prove this summer.

Beech’s all-everything running back still managed to open some eyes this past weekend at the Columbus, Ohio, stop on the Nike Football Training Camp (NFTC) tour.

The 6-3, 230-pounder impressed onlookers with his physicality and athleticism, earning positional Most Valuable Player honors and an invitation to The Opening — Nike’s five-day invitation-only camp for 100 of the top players in the country at its headquarters in Beaverton, Ore.

“I definitely didn’t feel the best I could,” Hurd said. “I’d only had about a week to train because I’d had a scrimmage and had a little ‘dead leg’. My legs were a little sore. But I went out and did the best I could. I think my performance was OK.”

“From the start of the camp, Hurd displayed an athletic ability that was not matched by many. He’s got incredible size/speed combination and a graceful, almost effortless stride that almost lulls you to sleep before he runs you over. He was uncoverable in one-on-one drills (against linebackers) and in most cases he didn’t even attempt to juke them, instead deciding to just run them over before continuing on his route. … To be fair to the linebackers, these events really don’t provide them much of an opportunity to come out on top, but Hurd’s overall ability just jumped out at you.”

While summer camps such as the Columbus one are plentiful and are pivotal for many of the Midstate’s rising seniors, it’s not much more than a diversion for Hurd. Last fall, he rushed for a state-record 3,357 yards and 42 touchdowns to earn Class AAA Mr. Football honors and lead Beech to the Class 5A title, and in March he committed to UT and first-year coach Butch Jones in March.

For him, the summer objective is a lot less practical and more personal.

“It’s just a way to see myself against the nation’s best,” said Hurd, who won’t attend any other camps besides The Opening, which takes place June 30-July 3. “Many times, people have doubted my talent. I want to try to prove myself as an athlete. It’s my inner ego. I want to show people what I can do and prove that I’m one of the best.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/06/05/hurd-knows-how-to-hit-the-opening/feed/0Marshall’s Medley set to sign with UThttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/05/23/marshalls-medley-set-to-sign-with-ut/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/05/23/marshalls-medley-set-to-sign-with-ut/#commentsThu, 23 May 2013 15:23:39 +0000Maurice Pattonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/?p=4774Marshall County’s Aaron Medley became the latest rising senior to announce his intentions of signing a college football scholarship with Tennessee when he did so earlier this week.

“Not to take anything away from Texas A&M and Oklahoma (which had also offered), but Tennessee is really special,” said the 6-2, 170-pounder, who earned Tennessean all-Midstate first-team honors last fall as a punter but is considered among the top five 2014 prospects in the country in all three phases of the kicking game.

“UT is my dream school. I grew up as a fan. I know what it means to be a Volunteer, and I think I can help them. Once they offered me, I asked myself ‘is this where I want to go’, and my heart said yes.”

Medley averaged 45 yards per punt with a long of 61 yards as a junior, while hitting three of six field goal attempts and putting 60 percent of his kickoffs into or through the end zone for touchbacks.

He’s the 13th current member of a recruiting class that also includes Beech running back Jalen Hurd and Independence receiver Vic Wharton III.

James Wilhoit, a former UT kicker who now works statewide as a kicking instructor, called Medley’s commitment to his alma mater “huge”.

“He fills a lot of needs for them,” Wilhoit said. “He’s rare in that he’s a top five guy nationally in all three phases. He needs a little more development as a punter, but he’s only a junior. When he gets to UT, he’ll have the ability to do all three.

“If he had waited, I think (offers from) Ohio State and Notre Dame were coming. He’s arguably the best kicking prospect in the country. He hasn’t played his best football.”

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/05/23/marshalls-medley-set-to-sign-with-ut/feed/0Indy’s Wharton set to undergo hip surgeryhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/05/15/indys-wharton-set-to-undergo-hip-surgery/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/05/15/indys-wharton-set-to-undergo-hip-surgery/#commentsThu, 16 May 2013 02:32:19 +0000Maurice Pattonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/?p=4752Independence junior Vic Wharton III, a multisport standout who has committed to sign a football scholarship with Tennessee, will undergo arthroscopic hip surgery next week to repair a partially torn labrum.

“It’s becoming a fairly common procedure,” said Wharton’s father, Independence track coach and football assistant Vic Wharton Jr. “It’ll take probably two to four months to recover, so he could miss a couple of (football) games, maybe three.”
According to the older Wharton, the hip injury was initially sustained during football season and has continued to nag through basketball and into track but was reaggravated last month at the Vol Classic track meet.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/05/15/indys-wharton-set-to-undergo-hip-surgery/feed/0Locals heading to pro women’s hoop rankshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/04/16/locals-heading-to-pro-womens-hoop-ranks/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/04/16/locals-heading-to-pro-womens-hoop-ranks/#commentsTue, 16 Apr 2013 16:21:27 +0000Maurice Pattonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/?p=4506A couple of former Midstate girls basketball standouts heard their names called during Monday’s WNBA Draft, as Northeast’s Kamiko Williams was selected by the New York Liberty with the third pick of the second round and Wilson Central’s Jasmine Hassell was selected six picks later by the Indiana Fever.

Williams, a 5-11 guard, had her best collegiate season in her final year at Tennessee – averaging 7.4 points and 4.2 rebounds and shooting 50.5 percent from the floor along with 88 assists and a team-leading 57 steals as the Lady Vols advanced to the Elite Eight under first-year coach Holly Warlick.

Hassell, a 6-2 forward, led Georgia with 12.7 points and 6.2 rebounds per game and was 14th nationally with a field goal percentage of 53.1. She was named first-team all-Southeastern Conference in a vote of the league’s coaches and second-team all-SEC by the Associated Press. Georgia also advanced to the Elite Eight.

Williams and Hassell are the first Midstate players to be chosen in the WNBA Draft since former Brentwood Academy standout Victoria Dunlap was selected out of Kentucky by the Washington Mystics with the 11th overall pick in 2011. In 2010, Mt. Juliet’s Alysha Clark from Middle Tennessee State was selected by San Antonio with the fifth pick of the second round.

]]>http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/04/16/locals-heading-to-pro-womens-hoop-ranks/feed/0Beech star’s pledge to be ‘Hurd’ for monthshttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/03/18/beech-stars-pledge-to-be-hurd-for-months/
http://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/2013/03/18/beech-stars-pledge-to-be-hurd-for-months/#commentsMon, 18 Mar 2013 23:08:35 +0000Maurice Pattonhttp://blogs.tennessean.com/high-school-sports/?p=4426Jalen Hurd’s recent decision to commit to Tennessee will likely have an impact beyond the talent he promises to bring to Neyland Stadium in the fall of 2014.

By announcing so early, the Beech running back — arguably the nation’s top player at his position in the upcoming recruiting class — could sway other recruits to join him in Butch Jones’ second UT class.

Not long after Hurd announced on Thursday morning, the Volunteers picked up another commitment from Georgia running back Treyvon Paulk. Previously, UT had commitments from Independence receiver/returner Vic Wharton III, Virginia lineman Coleman Thomas and a pair of ‘legacies’ — Knoxville Webb safety Todd Kelly Jr. and Maryland receiver Neiko Creamer. Both are sons of former Vols, Todd Kelly and Andre Creamer.

Hurd’s commitment takes on added importance locally, as the current class of juniors could be one of the most talented group of in-state recruits in some time.

“Alex Bars has got to be a priority,” 247sports.com recruiting analyst Barton Simmons said, referring to the Montgomery Bell Academy lineman who has nearly 25 offers already. “Rashaan Gaulden visited this weekend. And probably Josh Malone is as big a target as anybody. If you’re looking at big splashes in the state, he’s probably the guy you look to next.”

Gaulden, who played linebacker as a sophomore at Brentwood Academy, will play safety at Independence this fall and projects there collegiately. Malone is a receiver at Station Camp.

“They’ve got a pretty solid group, but certainly Jalen and Todd are the key pieces at this point,” Simmons said.”It’s been a strong year in-state with this class. Butch Jones said he was going to take back the state, and you can’t make a much bigger, much louder statement than he’s been able to make with Jalen Hurd and Todd Kelly, in living up to that talk.”

Hurd legitimizes Jones’ ability to recruit Southeastern Conference-caliber performers — an issue for some at the time of his hiring after head coaching stints at Cincinnati and Central Michigan, and again after he and his staff weren’t able to close the gap on Georgia standout defensive back Vonn Bell last month. Bell signed with Ohio State.

“Particularly with him being a kid from Chattanooga (Ridgeland is in Rossville, just across the state line), there was some worry there — ‘you can talk all you want, but you missed on the best guy in-state last year’,” Simmons said. “This silences those doubts pretty quickly.

“Jalen is probably a bigger recruit even than Vonn Bell, being the leading single-season rusher in the state.”

With 3,357 yards, Hurd broke the record of 3,068 set in 2011 by Powell’s Dy’Shawn Mobley.

“They really need a running back,” Simmons said. “They got one this last class and they would like to have gotten two or three, and they respond this year with getting arguably the top running back in the country, the No. 2 running back in the nation on 247sports (behind Leonard Fournette of New Orleans St. Augustine).

“He’s the bell cow in the state of Tennessee. If you make out your wish list, it starts with Jalen Hurd if you’re Butch Jones.”

And while plenty of heralded high school players don’t have quite the impact at the next level that is expected, Beech coach Anthony Crabtree doesn’t expect that to be the case with Hurd.

“I think his chances for being successful are extremely good,” Crabtree said. “No. 1, I think his size and his speed are something that we definitely don’t see every day in Middle Tennessee, but on top of that he has a great work ethic, he has a great football IQ, he understands the game, he’s determined, he knows what he wants to do, he somewhat understands what it’s going to take to get it done.

“I don’t think you can ever fully explain to a kid what it’s going to be like when they get to college until they get there and experience it, but I don’t think there’s any question he’s going to be a successful SEC football player.”